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About Me

Hi! I'm Forrest. I live in Missoula, Montana and love being able to explore mountains by foot, bike, or snowshoe. Many of my favorite days include an early morning trail run followed by a long mountain bike ride. Montana seems to have a limitless supply of mountains to explore.

As a relative newcomer to the state I want to learn more about this place I now call home, so I have devised a way to force myself to explore the whole state over the next few years. I call it my Montana Mountain Project.

There are 64 mountain ranges in the state (according to Montana.gov) and I want to summit the highest point in each mountain range by the end of 2020. Along the way I hope to learn a bit about the geography, geology, history, and culture of the various parts of the state. I also hope to have some fun.

In addition to my mountain project I will keep working at Runner's Edge while my wife is in PT school, trailrunning, biking, and continuing to lead the active lifestyle that I enjoy living.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and share in my adventures.

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Hiding behind Stuart Peak and Point 6 when looking North from Missoula is the 8,620' McLeod Peak. The 'Snake, as the National Recreation Area/Wilderness/Mountain Range is affectionately known, serves as a wild backyard to Missoula residents. Bikers, hikers, runners, backpackers and hunters can be found all over, and during the winter months skiers come out to play. Much of the Rattlesnake consists of lower, forested hills and rolling mountains, but as one gets farther North the terrain gets more rugged. McLeod is a rocky, alpine mountain, which contradicts the experience of most Rattlesnake users.

I met Nate Bender and Kristina Pattison at the main Rattlesnake Trailhead a mere week after the Rut Mountain Runs. We were all still tired from the race, but decided to try a long traverse of the entire Rattlesnake ridgeline, from McLeod down to Stuart Peak. Kristina would join us for first portion, up Finley Creek, climb McLeod, then back down Finley Creek where her car was waiting…

Looking west from Dillon, the East Pioneers dominate the skyline with jagged ridgelines, two quite prominent peaks, and, at least every time I have driven by, swirling mist portending a storm hiding behind the mountains. The two peaks, Tweedy and Torrey are only a few feet different in elevation with Tweedy edging out Torrey at 11,154'

The Pioneers are divided into two ranges by the Pioneer Scenic Byway. The West Pioneers consist of rolling, heavily treed mountains, with just a few summits barely poking above treeline. The East Pioneers reach much higher elevations and were heavily glaciated, which makes them much more rugged and intimidating than their western neighbors. Both the East and West Pioneers are teeming with wildlife including the bear that stalked me on Stine Mountain, and potentially the last pure strain of Arctic Grayling (fish) in the lower 48.

At the end of July Sara, Cory Soulliard, and I met up at the Mono Creek Campground for an attempt at Tweedy Peak. With a …

Central Montana is dominated by a series of island mountain ranges. Rolling plains give way to small clusters of peaks, each with their own unique climate and character. Just a few miles south of Lewistown, the geographic center of Montana, are the Big Snowy Mountains, which are the largest of the so-called Island Ranges.

I used the excuse of visiting Sara, who is completing an eight week physical therapy internship in Lewistown, to spend a day in the Big Snowies. I knew I wanted to try and go up a few peaks during the weekend, but I was not sure what ranges we would end up exploring so I made the mistake of planning for nothing instead of planning for everything. We ventured into the Big Snowies with only a guidebook as our map, but fortunately Peakbagging Montana gives accurate enough route descriptions that we could wing it with only a few scratches.

We camped at the trailhead across from an intricate gate to one of the many cattle ranches in the area. Over the course of the weeke…